Why the European battery industry needs its own training standards
Thousands of jobs are currently being created in Europe’s and Germany’s battery industry. But to ensure that the global hopes currently resting on it are not disappointed, it needs a sufficiently large number of trained specialists.
Few other industries in Germany capture the imagination of politicians and businesses as much as the battery industry. With its technology, it can make an important contribution to achieving Germany’s climate targets for 2030. In the struggle for independence from fossil fuels and the electrification of mobility and industry, high-performance battery cells are among the key components. They can store electricity from renewable energies and act as a buffer to stabilize local power grids. They enable innovative mobility concepts and alternative means of transport — from micro-mobility to locomotion to underwater navigation, and even electric flying.
On top of that, the industry is a real job engine. The German government expects around 10,000 jobs to be created in the battery industry in Germany in the coming years. The National Platform for the Future of Mobility even puts the total personnel requirement for the period 2021 to 2030 at 65,000, most of them “highly specialized specialists”. This does not even include employees in supplier industries. For the mechanical and plant engineering sector alone, however, an interim report by the platform assumes 11,000 additional employees per year. The automotive industry is experiencing a similar change, where software is becoming the dominant tool and job profiles and recruiting have radically changed for HR departments.
Shortage of skilled workers threatens pace of innovation
But urgent action is needed to ensure that the reinvention of industrial “Made in Germany” succeeds, and that Germany can maintain its market leadership in engineering.
Even today, it is difficult to fill vacancies in the battery industry. The industry is facing a shortage of skilled workers and the pace of innovation could stall. The development of recognized and standardized training, qualification, and further education courses is therefore needed throughout Europe.
CustomCells is one of the leading companies in the development and production of application-specific lithium-ion battery cells — and thus directly affected. We thrive on the innovative strength of our employees. Our teams are the engine for progress, hand in hand with our state-of-the-art production standards. This requires technological expertise, but at the same time also a “do-er mentality” and the desire to shape the sustainable day after tomorrow today. At our sites in Itzehoe and Tübingen, we are planning to increase the workforce — in line with our growth strategy — by around 30 percent in the short term, provided we have the right employees.
Competition for talent with damaging consequences for the industry
Cooperation with universities and participation in a wide variety of national and international forums help to promote the necessary exchange and will become even more important for us in the future. But they can only be a beginning in the topic of securing skilled workers. We need a cross-industry dialogue about necessary skills, about current and future needs, in order to define common standards and create uniform job profiles. We at CustomCells are ready to take a leading role here. Our appeal to all those involved in the industry is therefore: Let’s develop the job profiles of the future together!
It may seem tempting: But this is not the time for individual companies to go it alone according to the “Winner Takes All” principle. A bidding war for qualified employees would have fatal consequences for the entire European battery cell production. It would encourage companies to leave or lead to a consolidation of the market. The latter, in turn, would be a hindrance to future innovation.
Politics must flank efforts by the economy
Nor are the companies and their partners alone in demand. The development of battery cells and the production of batteries does not take place in urban areas, but in rural and often structurally weak areas. In this way, the companies make a positive contribution to strengthening the respective region. In return, however, politics is called upon to contribute to the attractiveness of the region together with the companies and to invest specifically in local support and mobility services.
According to the mobility association “Transport and Environment”, 38 new battery factories are to be built in Europe alone over the next ten years, and the market volume is expected to increase more than sixty-fold from the current EUR 1.7 billion to EUR 110 billion.
What these figures make clear: Together, we have the opportunity to make Europe one of the leading markets in battery cell technology and secure our technological sovereignty. Powerful and sustainable. We should not allow the shortage of skilled workers take us off this path.
This article by CustomCells co-founder Torge Thönnessen first appeared as a guest article in “Tagesspiegel Background”.
Master of Batteries is a publication by CustomCells, one of the leading companies in the development and series production of state-of-the-art lithium-ion battery cells.
